A
young motor man was fatally injured when his fall protection
lanyard was caught and wrapped around the rotating kelly
bar on a drilling rig. He had completed some work in the
derrick using a full body harness with a lanyard attached
to the back dorsal D-ring of the harness. After climbing
down, he detached the lanyard from the anchor line and,
without removing the harness or the lanyard, began walking
across the rig floor, in close proximity to the rotating
kelly. The lanyard contacted and wrapped around the kelly
bar and pulled him into the rotating bushing.
What
should be done to prevent a similar incident
- Establish
and clearly mark a danger zone around the rotary table.
- Develop,
communicate, and enforce adequate procedures to ensure
workers do not enter the danger zone when the rotary
table is in motion.
- Guard
rotating equipment: consider sensors to activate warning
alarms and emergency stops when workers or equipment
enter the established danger zone.
- Keep
any other hoses, cables, or equipment away from rotating
equipment.
- Ensure
workers remove fall protection immediately when it's
not needed.
- Remove
or confine any articles of loose clothing, hair, jewellery,
etc.
Relevant
sections of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation*
8.10
Personal clothing and accessories
(1)
The personal clothing of a worker must be of a type and
in a condition which will not expose the worker to any
unnecessary or avoidable hazards.
(2) If there is a danger of contact with moving parts
of machinery or with electrically energized equipment,
or if the work process presents similar hazards
(a)
the clothing of the worker must fit closely about the
body,
(b) dangling neckwear, bracelets, wristwatches, rings
or similar articles must not be worn, except for medical
alert bracelets which may be worn with transparent bands
that hold the bracelets snugly to the skin, and
(c) cranial and facial hair must be confined, or worn
at a length which will prevent it from being snagged or
caught in the work process.
12.16
Rotating hazards
Rotating
parts, such as friction drives, shafts, couplings and
collars, set screws and bolts, keys and keyways, and projecting
shaft ends, exposed to contact by workers must be guarded.
23.5
Safe work procedures
(1)
The employer must identify the work activities or circumstances,
including releases of gases, that have caused or may cause
significant risk of injury or occupational disease to
workers.
(2) The employer must analyze the risks arising out of
the work activities or circumstances identified under
subsection (1) and implement safe work procedures if the
activities or circumstances create a hazard.
(3) The procedures implemented under subsection (2) must
state the number of workers involved, the steps to be
followed and the safety equipment required.
23.61
Rotary table
(1)
If visibility on the rig floor is obscured, workers must
not work there while the rotary table is in motion.
(2) Hoses, lines or chains must not be operated or handled
near a rotating table while it is in motion.
(3) The rotary table must not be engaged until all workers
are clear of the rotating table.
*The
sections of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation
listed in this bulletin do not imply a breach of the Regulation
on the part of any party that may have been involved with
this incident. The purpose in listing specific sections
of the Regulation is to make readers aware of some of
the applicable sections of the Regulation.
